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Friday, July 29, 2011

The 46th Anniversary of Medicare and it should be celebrated because of the Health Insurance its guaranteed for tens of millions of Senior Citizens since. And its been a great success and has achieved the original purpose of its objective, which is not something that can be said as fact for a lot of other Federal Programs. Perhaps not even a lot of other Federal Programs. And I believe a big reason for its success, that it guarantees Health Insurance for everyone thats eligible for it. Meaning all Senior Citizens has a Patients Bill of Rights built into it. Which was also part of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, meaning that Medicare can't dump its patients because they get sick and need Health Insurance or reach a Lifetime Cap on the amount of Health Insurance they consume in dollars. Or have a Preexisting Medical Condition to use as examples. Another reason why Medicare has succeeded is unlike Medicaid, Medicare has a Dedicated Revenue Source. Medicare is funded through part of the Payroll Tax, unlike Medicaid which has to come out of General Revenue in the Federal Government as well as State Governments. And the Federal Government actually has to pay more for Medicaid then it does but has never lived up to its own obligations that itself wrote into law when they created Medicaid back in 1965. And Medicaid is something like a 40B$ program the entire US Department of Education Budget and is very expensive to run. Unlike the Federal Government that run Medicare on its own through the Health and Human Services Department. And again has a Dedicated Revenue Source to fund the program and doesn't have to look to cut the Federal Budget just to fund Medicare. But with Baby Boom Generation retiring which is a huge generation and the cost of their Medical Care coming down the road followed by Generation X my generation and others. Its time that we look to reform Medicare in a way that saves the program and makes it work even better.

What I would like to see done with Medicare instead of turing it into a Voucher System coming from the Tea Party. And no longer guaranteeing Health Insurance for Senior Citizens. And forcing Senior Citizens with a voucher to go get their own Health Insurance from the Private Sector. Where Private Insurers wouldn't have to cover them and taking away part of their Freedom of Choice in Health Insurance. Or instead of doing what the Progressive Caucus and its allies want to do and convert Medicare into a Single Payer Health Insurance program for everyone. And taking away the Freedom of Choice for everyone to be able to decide where they get their Health Insurance. What I would like to do is give Senior Citizens the Freedom of Choice to decide for themselves where they get their own Health Insurance. They can stay on Medicare or with a voucher could decide to go into the Private Sector or even Public Sector as well. If we ever create a Public Option in Health Care Reform that I would like to see. As well as reform the financing of Medicare, have the wealthy pay more into it before they are eligible to collect it and once they are on it. And raise the Retirement Age for people who are able to work longer and can afford to wait before they receive Medicare. We could fix the Financing of Medicare with the last two reforms alone.

What could really save Medicare indefinitely where we may never have to worry about its financing again or at least not the Federal Government. Would be to get it off of the budget of the Federal Government all together, not eliminate it or turn it over to the States. But converting it into an Independent Non Profit Health Insurance Service thats no longer run by the Federal Government. That would compete in the Private Market with other Non Profit Health Insurers and hopefully a new Public Option would be part of its competition. Medicare would be well regulated, meaning it would have to accept any Senior Citizen eligible for it. But maybe it would also accept people from all age groups as well, which would help cut its costs because it would be able to cover healthier people as well. And under my plan their would no longer be just one Medicare, each State would have it own Medicare System but none of the States would run it. But there would be a Medicare Service in each State, Medicare Maryland, Medicare Ohio, Medicare Florida etc every State. But each Medicare Service would have to comply with a Basic set of Standards from the Federal Government. Under my plan Medicare would have its own Management and Board of Directors at the National and State Levels that they would select.

Medicare has been a very successful Medical Insurance Program the last forty six years and we need to keep it as a very successful Health Insurer going forward. But for that to happen, we need to put some solid reforms on it and not do anything to it that could make it weaker. By eliminating the Freedom of Choice for its current patients and perhaps future patients.

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Blogger/Publisher Erik Schneider

I blog about practically everything that I'm interested in and knowledgeable about. Primarily about current affairs, news, politics and history. But for history, is not just about government and politics. But it covers those things, but entertainment, from movies to music, TV, sports, movies that are about politics and current affairs. Whether the characters are played by actors, or whether the film is in documentary form.

I'm interested in a lot of different things and spend a lot of my time learning about those things to the point that I feel the need to tell everybody what I know and think about what I have learn. Not sure if that is a good thing, or not. Since I'm a blogger, I hope that is good. Again for current affairs and news, as well as politics. But what is going on in those areas today, but also what happened in those areas in the past. History, is about teaching today's generation about what happened in the past. So we know what went well back in the day, but also what didn't work. So we know what works and what doesn't.

But again not just current affairs, news and politics. I love movies, especially classic movies. And when I'm not working and I'm at home, you can generally find me watching a movie. Or a ball game from that day, or a ball game from the past. And then if I'm really interested in what I'm seeing and I believe I'm pretty knowledgable about that, you can generally find what I learn from what I just watched up on my blog. You can physically take me away from my blog, but my mind is always there thinking about what's next for the blog. Looking for the next piece to write about.

I'm also a big fan of bios and watch a lot of them and read about people I'm interested in a lot as well. And again when I see a good bio about someone that I'm really interested in and I'm knowledgeable about, you can find what I know about that person and era up on my blog. I love documentaries, true crime, bios and bios of all kinds. Actors, politicians, athletes musicians, activists, a lot of different people.

I blog about a lot of different things. So if you're checking out my blog, but you're only interested in perhaps a few areas, you're probably not going to see a lot of what you're looking for. And end up seeing a lot of things you could probably care less about. But if you're someone who has multiple interests and knowledgable about those areas as well, I hope you check out my blog. Because I think we can learn from each other. I always welcome input to my blog. Just try to keep it professional and courteous. We can disagree with each other without trying to destroy each other. And perhaps even learn from each other.